Starting Over
by dreAMerreader4
Summary: Clary and Jonathan are moving back to the city in time to start out the new school year. However, Jon and Clary are living in two completely different worlds. But what will happen to Clary's world when she meets the 'Golden Boy' everyone keeps talking about? This summary sucks but I promise the story is better! All human. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So this is my first fanfic for TMI so.. if I'm horrible at it, please tell me so I can be spared of my humiliation…**

**I do not own TMI…**

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Clary stands in front her mirror just as she's packing up her belongings. _This is the last time I will be standing here_, she thinks. Clary is really indifferent about this whole moving away again. It's not like she had any friends here anyway.. At least this time, they're moving back to their old house, moving back to Simon instead of away from him. When they moved, Clary was torn. Simon was, no _still_ is, her brother and for her to be away from him was extremely painful. It's been 2 years of them being apart, but it feels like an entire eternity for Clary if she is to be completely honest. Though they were apart in distance, they remained close at heart; talking for hours, texting for days, and video chatting for months.

She pushes all and every thought about anything and everything to observe herself in mirror. Her bright green eyes that light her entire face but are too wide for her frame, her delicate, porcelain skin that makes it seem like she never steps into the sun, her untamable, curly fiery red hair that clashes against her skin with the bold statement it makes. _Oh and my height.. Who could forget about that.., _she thinks sarcastically as she scrunches up her nose when she is disgusted. "I look like my mother but in the shorter version..," she says to no one in particular since she's alone in her bedroom.

"Hey, would you do us all a favor and quit being so conceited so you can finish packing?" Clary turns around to find the voice belonging to Jonathan with his dark piercing eyes staring at her, quite amused as he's backed up against her door frame. He looks so perfect;_ at least that's what all the girls who have laid their eyes upon him say,_ with his dark, mysterious dark eyes, his sliver-gold but natural hair, and his athletic build that makes him look full of muscle. Clary does know deep down inside of her that her brother is very handsome because he really is the spiting image of their father.

"I am _not _conceited!" Clary scowls at her brother fiercely, one her signature moves.

"Oh really? Then why have I been standing here just watching you _stare at_ yourself for the past 5 minutes," he says as he raises both of his eyebrows and throws her his best smirk.

Clary just rolls her eyes but remains silent, not wanting to argue with her brother when she knows she'll lose terribly. However, when she looks back at Jonathan, expecting a victorious smile, she sees his smirk fading rather quickly and is instantly replaced by a slight frown.

"What? What's wrong," Clary asks, suddenly concerned.

"How are you holding up, Clary? With this whole moving thing, that is?" Jonathan's brows are pulled together in the center and his eyes are full of worry as he locks his attention on Clary.

Clary is taken by surprise with Jon's question. Sure there are times when Jon is overly protective of her or greatly worried about her, but now, he usually leaves her alone because he is too busy with his life to really notice her anymore. Clary would often be annoyed when he would ask her questions, showing his protective side, but she does miss it now that she longer sees it anymore. It somehow made them closer than other siblings. She almost smiles at the thought that his protective side is returning, even if it's just for a few minutes, but quickly rids the thoughts from her thinking and replaces those thoughts with the anger that she has kept bottled up inside as she begins thinking that Jon might 'understand' her when he can't.

"Um.. I'm fine I guess, Jon. I think you've forgotten that we're completely different so it's not like I have any friends that I'm leaving behind. In fact, I'm glad we're moving back because I'm moving back to my one friend, Simon." Clary hears the anger and jealously in her voice as answers back, although she wishes it wasn't there. She never means to release her attitude, especially not with Jonathan, but she can't help feeling angry that he is asking this, as if Jon would possibly relate to what she is going through. He won't be able to understand Clary even if he tried. Jonathan is a popular, athletic, handsome, and smart guy who has had many friends and girlfriends that come and go; Clary, on the other hand, struggles in school, remains forgettable to everyone, and a shy artist who hasn't even had her first kiss yet. The whole thought of Jon trying to understand makes her body flare with fury and anger throughout her entire body, as if it runs in her veins. But she quickly releases it, remembering that Jonathan has the best intentions for her.

She sighs rather loud and looks down at her feet, feeling ashamed of what she had been thinking of. "I'm sorry, Jon. I didn't mean for it to come out like that." She sneaks at look back at Jon, but his expression never changed as he remains glaring at Clary. His brows are still pulled together, meeting in the center, and his eyes are still full of worry, but with a hint of caring and understanding.

"Clary," now Jonathan is the one who is sighing loud, "I get that I won't understand you, given that you don't exactly have many friends and you're not as popular, but that doesn't mean I don't care," he says with a sweet, caring voice. "With that being said, I want you to promise me that you are actually going to try to make other friends other than Simon this time. Hell, get a boyfriend for all I care!" Clary smiles while Jon laughs his special laugh, the one he only uses with Clary.

"Oh, so now I can start dating then?" Clary smirks at him as he says, "Okay maybe I was exaggerating just a bit..." Jon is not laughing anymore which makes Clary laugh at his attempt to be the serious, protective brother again.

"So, can you promise me that Clary?" She sighs but agrees. Really, it would benefit her if she did make new friends so she sees no harm in promising Jonathan.

"Yeah, Jon. I promise." She lies on her mattress, suddenly feeling tried of packing up everything and having this brotherly conversation with Jonathan.

"No, no. Get up, Clary. You _need _to finish packing because you're not nearly done and the truck will be here in a few hours. Come on, Clary," Jon says as he begins tugging at her arms to help her to her feet, but Clary remains flat at her bed, ignoring Jon and his protests.

After a good five minutes of Jon annoying her, Clary gets up so quick is not only makes her head spin but also makes her fiery red curls bounce around. "Alright Jon! I'm up! Happy yet?"

Jonathan makes his way back to Clary doors and yells back "Ecstatic!" as he leaves to his room. Clary sighs and grunts as she plops back down on her bed, tiredly. "Don't make me go back to your room, Clary," Jon yells from his room. Clary gets up quickly again and begins packing up her things again lazily, wishing she could really just nap on her soft mattress.

o.0.O.0.o

By the time Clary was done packing and loading everything onto the moving truck, she felt so sore she thought her legs and arms would become mere noodles and give out underneath her, not being able to hold herself up any longer. With a sigh, Clary enters the house once more, despite the protests her body makes every time she steps somewhere. _This is the last time I will be standing here and over here, oh and over there, _is all Clary can think. Hesitantly, she makes her way to her room once more for the last time. As she enters her bedroom, Clary can't help but notice how clean and spacious her room really is without her clutter in the way. She walks to her window and glances at how the sun shines brightly her whole room. _If we weren't moving today, I could have easily sketched the sun's beauty… _

Her mother clears her throat from Clary's doorway, which causes Clary to be startled. "Sorry, Clary. I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to ask if you're ready to go yet," Jocelyn says quietly, and tiredly. Clary turns her attention to her mother and studies her for a few seconds. Her long dark red curls that twirl around for her, without effort, the kindness in her beautiful, bright eyes, and her small smile that lights up Clary's world, even if it's forced.

"Yeah, mom. I'm ready. We should head out now before traffic gets worse.." remarks Clary because she is well aware of the bustling traffic the New York produces everyday.

Both head out, Jocelyn ahead of Clary, and make their way to the cars. As they exit the house quietly, Clary notices Jon talking to a silhouette. She can't make out the dark shadow, until she's close enough. "Luke!" Clary runs to the dark shadow and jumps into his arms. Luke wraps both arms around her small, fragile body and lifts her off the ground to spin her around. Luke may not be her father, but he's the closest father figure both Jon and Clary have. Ever since they were little, Luke would support them at Jon's many sports games and every one of Clary's art drawings, even if he couldn't exactly make out what it was Clary was _trying _to draw, but most importantly, Luke would give them love when they needed it most.

"Hey, Clary," Luke responds breathlessly as Clary giggles loudly. He sets her back down gently while giving her a quick kiss on top of her head.

"I didn't think I would see you for a couple more hours," Clary says, with excitement in her voice.

"I didn't think so either but your mother called me and asked if I could come down and help her make the trip back since she was going to be alone." Luke glances at Jocelyn and both give one another a soft, sweet but small smile, one that they reserve for only each other. Clary and Jon glance at each other, and then roll their eyes, knowing that they have it hard for each other but won't admit it out loud.

"Okay," Jocelyn says breaking contact from Luke, "so Jonathan, please be careful driving and be safe. Clary, make sure you tell Jon to be careful and safe just because I know he won't exactly listen to _me._ Please," says Jocelyn as she gets into the passengers side of her small car while Luke takes the driver side.

Clary and Jonathan both get into Jon's black jeep slowly and quietly. While Jon turns on the radio, blasting the music so loud Clary knows her ear drums will surely bust any second now, Clary looks to the side, at the house and closes her eyes, feeling peaceful for once. The house wasn't really much but she remembers the memories that will constantly make her smile. The ones where she tried extremely hard to straighten her untamable curls, where Jon and Clary ended up wrestling in her or his bedroom, sketching her favorite drawing, the stupid convos she had with Simon late at night, taking those sweet naps with her mother, and even eating dinner with her family.

With a deep sigh, she flutters her eyes open and whispers, "Good-bye house," to herself for one last time. Then Jon takes off and Clary somehow manages to nap for a bit, despite having to listen to Jonathan's loud and annoying music. The last thought Clary has before she loses herself in sleep is how sore she is going to feel when she wakes up…

* * *

**I think that's a good place to stop for today.. Well, like I mentioned before, I'm new to writing for TMI so please tell me if I suck so I won't write anymore… At least for TMI..**

***I do have a Divergent fanfic for those Divergent fans, though I haven't finished just yet (blame writer's block..).**

**Please follow/favorite/rate or heck! Do all three ;) **

**-Drea**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I'm back. Hope I didn't make you guys wait too long..**

**I do want to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited the story! **

**Just a tip, by doing this, I post quicker!**

**(I don't not own anything..)**

Luckily, the traffic wasn't so bad so Clary and Jon make it to the house in good time. But, Jocelyn and Luke weren't as lucky.. They managed to get a flat on the freeway but they refused the help of Clary and Jon because they claimed that someone had to be at the house for the movers truck.

As they pull up into their driveway, Clary spots someone staring at her from their neighbor's porch. A boy with a golden mess of wavy hair that suit him _very _well and a pair of golden eyes. She doesn't pay too much attention however, with their house in her eyesight, so she returns her focus to the house. The house doesn't look different from the last time; in fact, it looks just as they had left it. She gets out of Jon's car then slowly walks up the front steps, trying hard not to run and scream like a 5-year-old who just got their favorite candy. She carefully reaches for the doorknob as she unlocks the door, and pushes the door open with caution, as if someone was trying to scare her from inside. Maybe it's just that she feels like the house will be taken away from her and vanish like a dream.

After trying to hold in her squeals for long, she decides she no longer cares and runs up to her old room. The house altogether looks dusty and old, broken and lonely. But, anywhere she turns to look, the hallway, the kitchen, the living room, the old memories that she had long forgotten flood her brain. It brings a smile to her face, one that brightens up her bright green eyes with something deeper than happiness, maybe with peace or love.

As soon as she enters her bedroom, practically trampling down her plain, white door, she feels her phone vibrate from her pocket. She pulls it out and reads the message, a wider smile forming on her lips.

_You know, most best friends would inform their best friend when they're back… I would be jumping with joy right now, but I'm not quite sure you deserve my enthusiasm anymore Fray._

_**I thought you would still be sleeping Lewis since it's pretty early for you. But fine, if it'll satisfy you... I'M BACK SI! **_

_**Happy? (;**_

_Extremely. I'll be over in a bit to help you unpack._

_**Such a gentleman.. **_

_Yeah, yeah. I'm so nice.. See you later Fray._

_**Bye Lewis.**_

With the smile still on her lips she puts her phone away in her pocket and walks back down the stairs. She decides to help Jon with the boxes they at least brought in his car. Just as she's turning to her hallway, she bumps into something, rock hard, causing her to fall on the floor; though her elbows break most of her fall. At first, Clary thought that it was Jonathan being careless, _like always, _but she knows it is not Jon since it didn't _feel _like him at all. When she looks up, she saw it was _not _Jonathan at all, confirming her thoughts.

She found a pair of beautiful gold eyes staring down at her, curiously. His hair was also gold, with wavy strands that hung almost effortlessly but added to the beauty, nonetheless. He carried a brown box that had the words 'Jon's things' on the side written in a black marker in one hand. But all she could really focus on was _him. _It was as if she was hypnotized into continue staring at him.

"Didn't they ever tell you how impolite it is to stare at someone," he asked with half a smirk. She knew he was talking to her and holding out his hand to help her up, but she couldn't quite grasp his words or his actions, she was too into focusing on him. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Are you just going to stay on the ground and stare at _me _or are you going accept my invitation to help you up. I don't have all day." He no longer had the half smirk he wrote proudly no to long ago and his tone was a little more annoyed than helpful. But this helped her to get out of her daze.

She quickly looked away as she felt the heat rushing to her cheeks, like if they were in some hurry. She dusted herself off as she got up on her own, ignoring his outstretched hand. "First of all, who are you and why are you here in my house. And second, there is no reason to be rude." She even gave him her most famous scowl to emphasize her harshness towards him.

"Oh, _your _house," he asked with that stupid grin that return. Although she was just drooling over him a few moments ago, he suddenly got on her last nerves and she couldn't stand him any longer.

"You know what I mean! Now who are-"

Before he had a chance to answer or Clary had a chance to even finish her sentence, Jon walked in. "Clary, there is no need to yell at guests. You probably scared him already. And to answer your questions, his name is Jace and he helping me unload since you ran off inside. No doubt texting Simon..."

Clary hated how much Jonathan knew her almost too well already. "I was just checking on my room when he texted. Then I was coming down to help when I was trampled to the ground by _him_!" She pointed towards Jace's direction to make sure Jon got her point only to find him smiling in amusement. Now she was really annoyed and ready to blow.

"Hey, you crashed into me then you stayed on the ground _staring _at me," his smile never leaving his face.

"I was not staring!" Clary's voice was getting louder by the minute and she could feel every frown on her forehead that formed when she started yelling.

"Look Clary, just go and get some boxes from my car," Jon finally says to break this scene up. Clary shoots both Jace and Jon a death glare and heads to Jon's car to unload the boxes. But not before she hears Jace talking about her.

o.0.O.0.o

Jace hadn't imagined doing anything today. It was so boring that he couldn't even enjoy sitting down on the piano bench to play, being home alone. He played jokingly and practiced seriously too much that he couldn't even look at his piano. He hated playing with everyone in the house just because everyone tried to bug him at that moment. He often thought that they all planned it, so he just figured he'd stop playing when they're around and it actually worked quite well.

He walked around the house, and then waked to the front porch. The slight breeze matched the warm sun perfectly. The breeze blew right through him, causing his hair to mess up a little and his loose-fitting shirt to move with the wind. He closes his eyes for a bit and smiles. Days like this are his favorite because they feel so peacefully. Just as he was about to walk down the porch stairs to go for a walk, a black jeep pulls into the driveway of the house next-door. The first thing he notices is a big mess of bright red, orange hair. A girl. She's sitting in the passenger seat and staring back at him. The second thing he notices is her bright green eyes. _That's one way you can catch my attention_, he thinks. Too soon she turns her gaze away from him. He continues to look at her as she walks up the steps and goes inside the house. _So they're the new neighbors we're getting today._

He glances back inside the house, wanting to go back inside to nap or something when he notices a boy about his age getting out of the car. Both glance at each other, nodding when Jace sighs as he walks down the steps to greet him.

"Hey man. I'm Jace." Jace extends his hand out to shake the other boy's hand.

"Hey. I'm Jonathan but you can just call me Jon," he says as he shakes Jace's hand.

"Do you need help? I'm free and happy to help." Normally, Jace would never be _this _but he's too bored to think of anything better to do.

"Uh yeah, sure man. That'd be great since my sister ran off to leave me all of these boxes to unload," Jon said with a roll of his eyes. Jon hands Jace a box of his things and tells him, "Take this box up the stairs and on the first door on the your left, you can drop the box in there." Jace nods and begins to make his way up the porch steps. He never actually stepped foot inside this house. Their last neighbors were a little, no way reserved so he kept as much distance from them as he could.

As he's going take his steps up the stairs, he bumps into something, but he hardly feels anything. He shifts the box in his hand to free one hand as he looks down when he hears a _Thud! _and finds the girl who ran off earlier on the floor looking up to him. After a few seconds, he shifts uncomfortably as he notices that she's not just _looking _at him but _staring_ completely. "Didn't anyone ever tell how impolite it is to stare at someone?" He's hoping that she stops staring at him and answers his chance at a light conversation. He even gives her one of his half smirks, one that girls _always _love. But nothing happens. He even tries to hold his hand out to see if that'll help, but nothing.

He is getting rather annoyed and creeped out by the girl just staring at him so he tells her, "Are you just going to stay on the ground and stare at _me _or are you going accept my invitation to help you up. I don't have all day." He even changes his tone of voice for her to get the hint. She seems to snap out of her daze he caused and helps herself up, not even accepting his hand to help her. She scowls as she looks at him.

"First of all, who are you and why are you here in my house. And second, there is no reason to be rude," she finally answers him, a little too harsh, he thinks.

He smiles at her again. "Oh, _your_ house?"

She starts again, "You know what I mean! Now who are-"but is cut off by Jonathan.

"Clary, there is no need to yell at guests. You probably scared him already. And to answer your questions, his name is Jace and he helping me unload since you ran off inside. No doubt texting Simon..." _So her name is Clary… _But as Jace finds her name to be Clary, he also gets slightly confused at this person Simon. And by the looks of Clary blushing at his mention of his name, he thinks, he seems important to her.

"I was just checking on my room when he texted. Then I was coming down to help when I was trampled to the ground by _him_!" Clary pointed to Jace to so that Jon got her point as Jace stayed smiling in amusement. Jace could tell how annoyed she really was and ready to blow.

"Hey, you crashed into me then you stayed on the ground _staring _at me," Jace said, never letting his smile leave his face.

"I was not staring!" Clary says, raising her voice a little more each time. She even got frowns on her forehead that made her look a little scarier that someone that small could possibly have a voice like that.

"Look Clary, just go and get some boxes from my car," Jon says, no doubt trying to calm Clary down. Jace notices that Clary shoots both Jon and him a death glare before she heads to Jon's car to unload the boxes.

"She sure is something…" Jace says, amused at her outburst.

"You have no idea man. Don't let her looks fool you. She's quite a handful." Jace smiles as he watches Clary from the distance, pouting her lips, crossing her arms over her chest, and kicking the air, like a small child.

_She defiantly is something… _

Jace quickly shakes his head and heads back up the stairs to drop off this box at Jonathan's room but still smiling at Clary.

**I'll stop here for tonight.. But I get want to let you guys know that although I am a huge Clace fan, things will be traveling **_**very, very **_**slow. Sorry! Even I won't enjoy it..**

**Please review/follow/favorite the story if you haven't already.. Or do all three (; **

**-Drea**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello my lovelies! I'm back with the next chapter. I pretty much couldn't keep waiting for it either (;**

**(I do not own anything…)**

**Here you go! Enjoy!**

_Breathe in._

_Breathe out. _

That is all Jace can think about. Practicing for football is very difficult, especially if your coaches are not in the best possible moods and they decide to make everyone run until they literally can't run anymore.

But, it really isn't that bad… Sports are Jace's life. The way you put so much focus into your goal, the way you feel so alive in the moment, and the way you feel during a game, like nothing else matters, fascinates Jace. It's all he could think about doing since he was younger and it worked out pretty well since Jace's amazing at any sport he tries. But football and soccer are his favorite. He lives for both sports, and it's good that both sports are during different seasons.

_Run._

_Breathe._

_Repeat._

Jace shakes his head to rid any thoughts he has, needing to focus correctly on practice, _only_ on practice. He needs to make varsity for this upcoming school year again if he wants to start being scouted early. School doesn't start for another two weeks but football "training," _more like football hell,_ thought Jace, started three weeks ago. It actually started days after Jonathan arrived, so when Jonathan heard it wasn't too late, he jumped at the chance to start practicing. Jonathan isn't even bad; he's really good, almost as good as Jace, _almost._ And with all this practicing, Jace and Jonathan have become quite the good friends. They hang out as much as they can, mostly at Jon's house though because Jace likes the peace they get there. At Jace's house, Isabelle loves to drool over Jon, Alec loves to annoy Jace, and Max loves to follow Jace around, _anywhere. _Jace has always been real close with the Lightwoods since they were little, so when Jace's parents died, the Lightwoods didn't hesitate into bringing Jace in. But no matter how hard they tried to make Jace comfortable or how nice they were to him, Jace was never the same after he suffered the death of his parents. He learned to built up his own personal wall that kept everyone away from him, broken.

The sound of the whistle being blown brings Jace to a halt. He closes his eyes as he tries to steady and control his breathing, slowly. He runs his hand through his golden wavy, damp with sweat, as he makes his way to the bleachers.

"Good practice today, _ladies_. Looking good out there, for _some _of you guys. No practice for the next two days. No questions asked, just enjoy you're little vacation, never know when you'll get one again." Jace lets out a breath of relief. _No practice. For two days! Time to catch up on sleep, _Jace thinks to himself. He picks up his duffle bag he uses for practice and throws it over one shoulder.

"Hey man! Think you'll make varsity again this year," asks Sebastian, one of Jace's close friends, as they walk to the parking lot.

He sighs breathlessly before he turns towards Sebastian to answer him. "I don't know man but I sure do hope so." Jonathan heads over to where Jace and Sebastian are around to join in the conversation. "Oh come on dude! You're so going to make varsity this year. Heck all three of us! The seniors aren't _that _good even though there are a lot of them. They won't last…"

"Yeah you're right Jon," says Sebastian and Jace nods in agreement. "Alright fellas, I have to go but I better see your guys' asses at my party tomorrow night!" Jace groans in reply but doesn't argue. He knows better.

"What's wrong with his parties," Jonathan asks as he climbs into the passenger seat of Jace's car.

"Nothing. Just, too overwhelming but hey, I do need a break…" He starts the car and heads home. During the ride home, both boys were silent the whole time. But there wasn't anything to really say.

As they pull up into Jace's driveway, Jonathan finally speaks up. "So I don't know about you but I'm too beat to hang out today. Thanks for the ride man, see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Jace replies, agreeing with Jon about being too tired, as Jonathan gets out of the car and closes the car door.

Jace gets out of the car as well then closes his car door a little too rough. He hears the beep, indicating that his car is locked, as he makes his way up the stairs with his car keys in his hand.

He hears laughter and girl voices, no doubt Isabelle hanging out with Clary in her room… Jace sighs a little too loudly and makes his up the stairs to go to his room. As Jonathan and Jace grew to be friends, Isabelle and Clary grew to be _best _friends. Now, either one is over at the other's house, no matter how late. Just as Jace makes contact with his doorknob, Isabelle yells out to him.

"Jace!"

Rolling his eyes, he answers. "What? What do you want!"

"Come in and find out!" He groans but heads to her room anyway. When he opens the door, he finds Clary and Isabelle sitting on Isabelle's bed laughing too loud.

"What?"

"Mom and dad aren't home. They left early for the wedding and won't be back till Monday night," she states as a matter-of-factly.

"Yeah I kinda figured that when I didn't see dad's car in the driveway. Or when I didn't saw either one of them here." Jace rolls his eyes but laughs anyway.

"Whatever. Anyway, the _real_ reason I called you over is to let you know that Clary and I will be attending Sebastian's party tomorrow night, with you and Jon."

Jace snaps his head straight so quick it makes his head spin around but ignores it. He looks dead on at Isabelle with evil eyes. "NO, you are not. And that's final. How did you even find out about the party?!"

Isabelle smiles wickedly as she relies. "Oh, you know, some boy invited me. And yes I am going, unless you want mom and dad to know of how that _shank _Kaelie slept over, _many, many times_," she tells him with a sweet wink.

His eyes widen at the horrible thought and, hesitantly, says "Fine" after thinking about it. "You will stay away from the guys and will not be drinking much. And you will go home when I say you will." His eyes flicker to Clary who is just staring out of Isabelle's window, dreamily. "And that goes for you too short stack."

Now its Clary's eyes who flicker at Jace, with a bit of annoyance in them. "Um.. First, it's Clary." She smiles sarcastically. "And second, I do have a brother of my own that can boss me around, even though I don't even listen to him."

"Speaking of, does Jonathan know you'll be enjoying us in the party? Isn't it a little too older for you young one?" He flashes Clary the same sarcastic smile she gave him not to long ago.

Clary smiles mischievously and says, "Oh don't worry about that. I have plenty of dirt I can use on Jon." She sighs, still smiling and says, "Blackmail sure is fun for sisters." with a wink.

He shakes his head, in disapproval but turns to leave anyway. "I'm going to take shower then go to sleep so _please _be quiet for once." No doubt Clary is planning on spending the night, again. Then he closes Isabelle's door with force.

_Those girls are something else._

o.0.O.0.o.

Clary flutters her eyes open and looks over to see Isabelle still sleeping next to her, with the help on the small light coming from the window. She then turns to look at her phone that's charging by Isabelle's nightstand. As she pulls on her phone to see the time, she sees that it's 4:35, a.m. With a sigh, Clary gets up to get a drink of water then use the bathroom. Clary has to squint her eyes hard for her to see in the darkness. She even tries extra carefully not to trip over anything, worried because she knows she isn't graceful, never was. When she manages to get to her water on the dresser, she chugs it down her throat, effortlessly, body filled with thirst. Then she walks to Isabelle's door as carefully as she could. Luckily, she hasn't fallen, yet. She even makes it to the bathroom without tripping.

But get as she reaching out for the doorknob she crashes into something hard from the side, her own two left feet tripping her. She could feel herself falling towards the floor when something wraps around her tiny waist, holding her mid-air. Clary keeps her clutched eyes closed, too afraid to open them.

"Are you okay, Clary," a male asks. But she recognizes the voice all too well.

"Jace?" She snaps her eyes open and turns to her side to look at him, only to find darkness. She feels his protective arms around her waist, feeling the muscle in them as well. "What are you doing? Making me fall, _again_, are you out to get me," she says with all seriousness.

He laughs quietly, causing her feel his laughter rather than actually hear it. The vibrations from his laughter give her goose bumps. "You wish you were that special Shorty. You were just in _my _way again." His arms are still around her waist as he fully turns her around, towards him.

Both are silent until Clary breaks the silence. "You could let go of me now, you know," she says quietly.

He does. But as he's releasing his grip around her waist, he sure does take his sweet time. When she is no longer in his grip, he clears his throat and says, "Well I'll leave you to whatever it was you were doing. Goodnight Shorty."

He turns away from her and walks back to his room as she stands there, blinded by the darkness but somehow, being able to point him out exactly.

She no longer needs to use the bathroom so she walks back to Isabelle's room in silence. She lays her head back down on the soft pillow and sighs, not knowing how she'll go back to sleep after that just happened. But somehow, she falls back asleep, with a wide smile on her lips.

When Clary opens her eyes again, it's because Isabelle is waking her up. "Come on Clary! Get up! It's late and we need to go shopping." Clary groans and turns away from the noise by covering her head with the pillow and blankets.

"Clary…"

Sighing, she gets her eyes to open. "Fine. I'm up Isabelle." Clary groggily yawns and stretches her back, like she does every morning. Isabelle then orders Clary to go take a quick shower so that they can make it to the mall in good time. She checks her phone once more and sees that it's 12:36 p.m. Just as she's going to set her phone down, she gets a message from her mother saying that she'll be working late with Luke so Clary would be better off spending the night with Isabelle again. She smiles and sets the phone back on the nightstand and walks to the bathroom, making sure not to bump into anything or _anyone_.

When Clary is just about to close the bathroom door, she hears Isabelle screaming, very loud. Clary runs to the room to check on Isabelle. "What's wrong? What happened?" Clary's eyes become filled with worry.

"Stupid Jace took my money! Probably to go out with that shank Kaelie again! He is so going to pay for this! Ugh! He is such an asshole," Isabelle yells angrily. "Now we can't even go to the mall…," she says, the anger in her voice gone but sadness replaces it.

"It's okay Isabelle. I guess we'll just have to find something else to wear. I do have clothes that fit perfectly at home Isabelle…" Which she did, but they were mostly plain shirts and ripped jeans with a collection of Chucks.

"Now, now Clary, we're going to that party dressed super hot! You _and _me! But you're right; we'll find something to wear from _my _closet, so go take a quick shower. I have a lot of work to do on you."

Clary rolls her eyes and turns to the door, making her way to bathroom. She closes the door and locks it then turns on the hot water and strips out of her clothes. When she's satisfied with the temperature, she hops in and immediately scrubs her hair with shampoo that smells like vanilla. She works on her whole body before she jumps out of the shower, smelling as sweet as vanilla. Clary isn't a big fan of vanilla; in fact, she hated smelling like a dessert but didn't complain, seeing she didn't have another choice in choosing what shampoo to use. She puts on her newer clothes that she got from her house and wraps her curly mess of hair in a towel.

As she opens the door, the steam leaves the bathroom and travels everywhere it can. When she reaches Isabelle's door, she notices a purple sticky note on her door. She picks it off the door and it reads:

_Iz and Shorty, _

_I went out with someone…_

_But we're leaving with Jon at 8:30 sharp!_

_Not even one minute later!_

_So I hope you girls will be ready by then._

_I mean, it would be a shame if you wouldn't_

_make it to the party. (;_

_-Jace_

_*P.S. _

_Shorty, your brother was looking for you._

_Said to call him when you're up._

That stupid nickname made Clary's nose scrunch up. _My name's not Shorty! _She clenches and unclenches her tiny fists then opens the door and gives Isabelle the note.

"Iz, your brother left you a love letter on your door."

"Gross Clary!" She skimmed through the note and rolls her eyes, probably at the _'I went out with someone…'_ part.

"Obliviously, Jace is stupid if he doesn't think we don't know who he's with." So Clary was right…

Clary goes to pick up her phone and dials Jonathan. He picks up on the second ring.

"Hey Jon, what's up?"

"Mom left you food so she wants you to come and eat. Now." And with that he hangs up. She sighs, and then hangs up as well.

"Hey Iz, I have to go home to eat but I promise I will be back in an hour."

Isabelle waves her off and says its fine, something about giving her time to pick out our outfits anyway.

"Just text me when you're done and I'll go over to your house to get ready. No one will be there anyways right?"

"Yeah," Clary says, "I'm pretty sure that Jon will be going on a date I think."

Isabelle's eyes snap up to look at Clary, eyes wide. "With who?" She sounds panicky and Clary can hear the desperation in her voice.

"Um.. with one of Kaelie's friends… I think her name was Lily? She has blue hair? Why…?"

Isabelle recovers quickly enough. "Oh, no reason." She gives Clary a small smile.

"Okay then… Well, I'm going to go home to eat then you can experiment on me for sure."

Isabelle's smile widens at Clary but Clary could still see the hurt and sadness in Isabelle's eyes. _Does she like Jon?_

"Hey Iz, you don't _like _my brother, right?" The curiosity of it getting the best of her. Though, Clary was hoping for a no because she didn't want anything to possibly ruin her relationship with Isabelle; she's like the sister Clary never had but wished for so many times.

"No Clary. Not at all." Isabelle didn't even look to Clary when she said that and kept her voice steady.

"Okay then. Bye Iz. See you later."

As Clary walks out, she hears Isabelle mutter a quiet "Bye."

**And that's it for today! I'll try to post on Wednesday morning but no promises…**

**Sorry if the chapter is a little (or a lot) boring but this was a transitional post. Next one will be way better! Promise!**

**Don't forget to follow/review/favorite the story if you haven't already. Or you can do all three to bring a smile on my face (;**

**Bye! **

**-Drea**


	4. Chapter 4

**So sorry I was unable to post. I thought I would have time to, but as you can all see, I didn't. Anyway, here's the chapter!**

**(I own nothing!)**

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"Ow Iz! That's the hundredth time you burn me," Clary exclaims as she reaches up to gently rub her throbbing left ear. Clary is sitting down on Isabelle's chair, feeling numb since she's been sitting here for two hours straight, while Isabelle does Clary's hair. For the first hour, Isabelle decided to straighten Clary's hair, then changed her mind and demanded Clary stay seated so she can curl it.

"Well, I wouldn't keep burning if you would just stay _still_. Seriously, do you have ants crawling over you?" Clary stared at Isabelle from the mirror in front of her. The way her brows pull towards each other in concentration, the way her eyes light up in pride or accomplishment when she finishes curling a piece of hair, and her beautiful, flawless skin. Studying Isabelle, Clary could see the huge resemblance between Isabelle and her brother Alec, whom Clary has only seen in the family pictures the Lightwoods have since he's away at some college. "There I'm done," Isabelle says as Clary snaps out of her thoughts. Just as Clary rises from the chair to see her reflection, Isabelle shouts. "What do you think you're doing?! No peeking at my hard work till I'm finished!"

Clary sighs in defeat, knowing it would be better to remain silent than protest with Isabelle. "Fine." She sits back down on the chair and keeps her gaze on Isabelle going through her closet, but still tempted to sneak a peek at the mirror to see herself.

But before she even has the chance to do just that, Isabelle walks back to where Clary sits with two short dresses in her hand. One dress is a deep navy blue with a thick black line running down the right side and two thin black spaghetti straps. The other dress is full on black with a deep green lacey pattern on top with one strap. "Can you guess with dress is for you," Isabelle asks mischievously.

"I'm gonna go with the black dress?" Clary knew which dress she would be wearing from the moment Isabelle pulled out those two dresses. "It looks _too_ tight. You sure it'll fit me?"

Isabelle practically pulls Clary up from her seat and leads her to her changing room in the corner and mutters, "Positive." As Clary is zipping up the dress, Isabelle throws some fishnet tights to her. "Here. Put these on, they'll help with the height." She could hear the smirk Isabelle wore when she said that. She just loved making fun of Clary's height at times. Without hesitation, Clary slipped on the fishnet tights then zipped up the dress, but not before she let out a groan escape her throat. When she finished getting dressed, she couldn't help but feel so, so… Exposed! She felt like she need to grab a big blanket and throw it over her tiny body to cover herself, but even then she would _still _feel exposed. _What did I get myself into? _

But Isabelle's reaction to the way Clary looked was completely different from Clary's. Her eyes wide, a big smile tugging at her lips, she gasped. "Oh. My. God. You look amazing!" Her eyes skimmed throughout Clary's entire body, up and down, left and right. "Okay last touch." Isabelle handed Clary a pair of plain black boots. _Great! No heels! Thank God!_ "Now, while you lace these on, I'll go finish up. Oh and will you check the time please. Wouldn't what to be late now, would we?" Isabelle didn't even wait for a response from Clary before she turned to the changing room.

With a sigh, Clary laced up the black boots slowly then checked the time on her phone. It read 8:25. _Isabelle better hurry if she doesn't want to be late._ But just as Clary formed that thought, Isabelle came from the changing room. "What do you think?" Isabelle twirled around for Clary, making her long black strands of curls spin around with her.

"You look… hot!" Clary couldn't help but giggle as she said that. She hardly ever used the term 'hot' to describe a guy, let alone a girl; but Isabelle wasn't just beautiful anymore. Not dressed like that.

"Thanks, but I already know that," Isabelle remarks with a wink and a smile. "Come on, we don't want to miss our ride." Isabelle loops her arm around Clary as they make their way downstairs. On the bottom on the steps, both Jace and Jonathan are waiting, dressed in all black. Clary could hear them talking but she make out their words. When Clary and Isabelle reach the bottom, both Jace's and Jonathan's eyes widen as they land on Clary.

_Uh-oh. Here we go._

o.O.o

Jace hated when the girls he 'messed around' with get clingy. He couldn't stand it, which is why he chose the girls he fooled around with carefully. He even had his steps all planned out ahead of time. First it was staring, then flirting, then making-out, then, if the girl got lucky, a one-night stand. He was so good at picking out the 'easy' girls, it was effortless. Jace was thinking about which girls he could hook up with tonight at the party when his breath hitched and his eyes widened.

_Was that Clary?_

His eyes skimmed all over her body, observing how fitted that dress looked on her, when all of sudden he felt wrong to do that. He felt uneasy, like it was a sin to look at innocent Clary the way he looked at all the other hot girls. _Wait. Did I just include Clary on the 'hot' list?_ He averted his gaze from her, completely. He wanted to tell her something when her brother beat her to it.

"I know you don't think I'm going to let you leave this house like that Clarissa," Jon said quietly it almost scared Jace, almost.

Clary rolled her eyes and said, "I don't need your permission Jonathan. I can remind you of all those dirty little secrets you have." She winked at him then turned to look at Jace. "You said 8:30 and here we are. Not a minute before, not a minute after," she said with a smirk. But Jace couldn't think of anything other than Clary shouldn't be wearing that. He couldn't even speak, so Jon spoke for him, again.

"He is not going to take you anywhere until you change."

Clary sighs before she answers, clearly frustrated. "Jon, I'm not going to change. Just please, _please_ let me have fun for once. When have I ever gone to party? A real teenage party?" Her eyes pleading, hoping Jon will understand.

"Fine. Just this once… But if anyone tries anything, I _will _get physical," he sighs in defeat. He turns his attention back to Jace. "Let's go man, or we're gonna be late."

Jace nods and pulls out his keys from his pocket, exiting out the door with Clary behind him and Jon and Isabelle behind her. When he presses the unlock button, he hears the 'click' the car makes. He opens the back door and looks at Clary, expectantly. Her brows furrow in confusion. "Get in shorty."

"Oh, I got that. I was just wondering how gentlemanly that is of you," she says sarcastically with a smirk.

Just as she was going to get in the car, Jace slams the car door shut, smirking. "Fine, then shorty. Open your own door." He turns to go to the driver's car door while she stares at him with disbelief as her mouths hangs up, then scowls at him. He opens his own door and climbs in, then smiles as he hears Clary's car door. He looks at her through the mirror but she refused to make eye contact with him, though her scowl was still plastered on her face. Jon climbed in the passenger seat and Isabelle followed into the back seat with Clary.

As soon as he heard the last car door slam, he didn't hesitate to drive off, pushing on the gas hard. Sebastian's house wasn't more than a 15 minute drive, but the way Jace was driving; they got there in less than 7 minutes.

Sebastian's house was already packed with people from school, music blaring loud, and colorful lights streaming through every window. _Sebastian's going all out with this party._ As Jace pulled up closer, he realized just how packed it was with not only people, but their cars as well. Luckily, Jace had VIP parking in his house already so they wouldn't have to worry about parking like everybody else. He pulled up into Sebastian's own driveway.

Jace dared sneak a quick glance at Clary; he saw her eyes full with awe and excitement, he couldn't help but chuckle at how innocent she is. When their eyes met, he was no longer laughing but locked his gaze on her. Neither one dared blink or even look away. His eyes were filled with unsteadiness while hers was filled with uncertainty. However, the staring contest was quickly over when both Jon and Izzy got out of the car and slammed the car doors. Once they recovered quickly from the gaze, they followed and got out of the car.

Jace could already smell the alcohol from where he's standing and he hasn't even set foot inside the house. Shaking his head, he led the group inside the house. As he opened the door, he could hear the screams and yells of people talking over the music.

_This is going to be one hell of a party. _

o.O.o

Clary has never seen so much people moving so quickly, passing one another without thought about it and without a care in the world. Bright, flashing lights steals her attention away from the people. And in the atmosphere, she could only smell alcohol. Everything calls for her attention that she suddenly feels overwhelming. She feels a headache coming along, a small tolerable headache but a headache nonetheless. She feels a hand on her shoulder and looks up to see Jon looking down on her concerned. She manages to give him a forced smile to reassure him of his worry. This gesture seems to relax him because he removes his hand from her shoulder and heads off in the same direction Jace left to.

As she watched Jace leave, she felt a pang of longing, though she didn't understand why…

Isabelle tugged at her arm, snapping her out of her thoughts, to lead her to the refreshments table. As they walk to the table, she could feel the stares of _all_ the guys in the room, but she thought it was because of Isabelle. That is, until her felt a hand grasped her lower back, _too low,_ she thought. She quickly spun away to catch the guy, but everyone was so close to one another that she couldn't point a guy out. Instead of concentrating on that, she returned her focus on Isabelle leading her.

Once they reached the table, Isabelle offered her a cold beer. Isabelle didn't know this, but Clary had never drunk before. She gripped the beer, reluctantly, and hoped that Isabelle didn't catch that. She didn't. Instead, Isabelle grabbed herself one as well and raised hers with Clary and bumped it, making a _'clink.'_ As Isabelle raised her beer to her mouth, Clary did the same with hers. The cold liquid entering her mouth, then making it burn as it slides down her throat. She grimaced but quickly removed the expression with a smile, carefully watching Isabelle.

As more and more pile in the dance floor, Isabelle grabs Clary hand and drags her out. "Come on, let's dance!" She has to repeat herself three times over the loud music before Clary finally understood what she was saying. Clary nodded and followed Isabelle.

As Clary looked around to see everyone dancing, she realized she didn't know how to dance. She turned Isabelle to face her and said, "Iz I'm going to freshen up right quick. I'll be right back." Isabelle just nodded, suddenly occupied with a male approaching her quickly. Clary rolled her eyes and went back to the table when she saw a back door open. With one last glance at Izzy, she exited out through the back door and entered a small patio that leads to the backyard.

She notices how empty it is, and how peacefully everything sounds. She leans over the white rail and breathes deeply while she closes her eyes. _This was probably the worst idea I ever had… but at least I'm at peace here, all alone._

Her peace is short-lived when she hears someone clear their throat behind her. Jerking her head around, she sees who that noise belonged to.

Julian.

"What is a pretty girl like you doing out here by herself," he asks with a smirk that he must think is irresistible. Clary tenses at his voice. He always had a thing for her, when she was here and when she had left. But Clary always felt uncomfortable around his gaze, his touch, around his presence, around _him. _

"Um… I'm not alone. I was waiting for someone," she responds as steady as she could.

He takes a step forward, then another, until he is faced to face with her. He looks down at her while she looks up at him. "Well, I'm pretty sure I can keep you company then," he says low as his hand graze her hips, hard. She lets out a yelp and puts her hands on his chest, trying to push him back as hard as she could, but without success. Her struggle only causes him to tighten his grip on her hips, and slowly make their way south.

Clary's eyes widen in panic and she tries even harder to keep him away. "Stop it, Julian!" She knows yelling is pointless over the loud music but tries that as well. But he still doesn't get the message because he pushes back to rail and traps her there with both hands on the rail and his body pressed against hers. Her back aches in pain and begins to feel tears behind her eyes as he starts kissing her neck, traveling downward slowly. He nips at her flesh and she tells him to stop again. "Julian, please. Stop. Please." He ignores her pleas and cries, kissing her collarbone.

She was about to cry even harder and try to escape when she heard someone else clearing their throat behind them. Julian finally stops, and Clary peers over his shoulder, with tears down her face, to see who it is. Secretly, she hoped it wasn't her brother, knowing just how he would get if he saw this. Reaching up on her tippy-toes, she saw who it was.

And it was _not _her brother at all.

It was in fact the last person she ever thought it would be…

o.O.o.

Jace led Jonathan away the girls and to the 'guys'' hangout spot. Everyone from the team was already there, forming a large circle, chuckling at something funny. As he got there, everyone there greeted him or slapped his back as he pashed them, and then greeted Jon. There were some refreshments for them so Jace picked up two cold beers and handed one to Jon. He popped off the lid on his bottle and drank up. He remained quiet while his teammates talked up the night. Different thoughts swirled around his brain.

_Why can't I stop thinking about how I looked at Clary?_

_Why can't I stop thinking about Clary in general?_

_What's wrong with me?_

_Why am I acting like this?_

_Or even thinking like this?_

Finally, Jonathan breaks his thoughts. "That girl just keeps staring at you like you're a piece of meat," he chuckles. Jace moves his attention to the girl Jonathan was referring to. She has dye-blonde hair with bright blue eyes, slim and tall.

Kaelie.

_Out of all people, it had to be her_, he thought. Jace groans at the thought of her. "She's my ex who keeps coming back to me," Jace tells Jonathan. "I don't know how to make it clear to her that I'm not interested in her at all anymore. We dated briefly last year… well that is if you call hooking up constantly dating." Jonathan laughs while Jace returns a smile to. "You want a piece of her to get her off my back? Take her," offers Jace.

Jonathan only laughs then tells him, "Nah man, I'm cool. What if she clings onto me next? Then I'm screwed!"

"Very true." Jace joins in on the laughter with Jon. After a few minutes of Kaelie staring at him while she licks her lips, Jace has had about enough. "That's it. I can't take this anymore. I'm going to the kitchen to get something stronger," Jace says as gestures to his drink in his hand and he sighs.

"Do you want me to go with you in case she tries to attack you," offers Jonathan.

"No, stay here and distract her if she comes to follow me. Which she most likely will…"

Jonathan shakes his head but only says, "Fine, but she clings on to me, you're dead."

Jace smiles at Jon and thanks him before he bolts out of Kaelie's view.

Making his way to the kitchen, he has many hands grasp his arm, his face, his chest, grasp _him _all together. All Jace is concerned about is Kaelie in his way and with there being no sign of her, everything is fine.

When he enters the kitchen, he grabs hold of a different beer, but drops it as he hears a yell. He whips his head around, but sees nobody but the dancers on the dance floor. He shrugs it off, thinking it was only someone having a good time, but then he hears it again. He turns all around when he catches sight of the back door open. He makes his way to it, quietly and cautiously so that Kaelie won't find him and to see who's yelling. As he opens the door, he sees someone leaning over the railing holding on to someone in front of him. Jace was about to dismiss the situation to being another couple having some fun when he heard the girl talk. "Stop, Julian. Please."

It's a voice he knows all too well. Suddenly, he recognizes the fishnet tights and the short black dress.

_Clary._

Rage begins coursing through his veins as he stands straight, with his feet apart and his muscles flexing tensely. He clears his throat and waits as Julian turns around. But before he is meant with the eyes of Julian, he meets small, vulnerable green eyes, clouded with tears. His eyes only harden as he sees the tears falling down on her cheek.

Then he is met with the eyes of Julian.

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**And that is all for tonight folks!**

**Sorry, I know cliffys suck!**

**But I promise I will update ASAP!**

**Don't forget to follow/favorite/review the story!**

**-Drea**

**P.S. Sorry if there is any grammatical mistakes or misspelling of words… I need a beta.**

**Any volunteers?**

**No?**

**Okay then..**


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